


Mobster

by Fleppy85



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24999694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fleppy85/pseuds/Fleppy85
Summary: Sara and Sofia are investigating three murder cases, that seemed to be ordered by two Las Vegas mafia families. Not the first time they investigate against the mafia, but this time it's the last time for one of them.





	Mobster

A five star hotel on The Strip. Valet parking, concierge, somebody to press the buttons in the elevator for you, thick carpets, a lot of gold, platinum and expensive paintings. Marble floor in the bathroom, a golden faucet for the spa, flowers, champagne and right in the middle a crime scene.  
The scene was a mess. Four dead bodies, all in line, all killed with a bullet into the forehead. Execution style. Not the first time they saw something like this.  
“The third time.” Greg shook his head. “One week and three crime scenes that look the same. This isn’t a coincidence. The mob is back.” The first crime scene had been an Italian restaurant a few blocks away from the Strip. One week ago two men were found in a dumpster, bullet in their foreheads. Three days ago another two were found in a casino not too far away from this one, also with bullets in their heads.  
“Oh please.” Sara rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she believed in coincidences but to get seventy years back when Vegas was ruled by mobster was a little bit too much for her. Of course the mob was still around but she liked to believe the city was in the hand of the police and other government authorities.  
“Come on, it’s mob style, you have to acknowledge that.”  
“It looks like mob style yes. It can be also a serial killer. They’ve got a pattern too.” This was the first case she worked with the Graveyard Shift after moving to Swing. Her and Grissom’s relationship had changed a few things, one of these things was her not working on the same shift like her boyfriend. Ecklie wasn’t happy when he got her back to nights this week but with Cath on holidays in Europe and Nick on a sick leave, nights needed people and there was no point in bringing in somebody else than her. She worked here for years, she could just start like she hadn’t been away. Of course eyes lay on her and Grissom whenever they were in the same room. A lot of curious looks and talking behind her back. She didn’t care.  
“No, this is mob. You know it was much as I do.”  
“Okay.” She sighed. He was right. These murder scenes looked like they were taken from the time when Vegas was ruled by the mobs. Since the 1980s the casinos were out of hand of the mobster. At least this was the official statement. Men like Sam Braun, who was active in the year 2000 showed them, the area of the mob wasn’t over yet. It was a business that made a lot of money when you were on the right team, worked with the right people. As long as you could make money with something people would continue to do it.  
“Eight victims. I bet these four are also somehow connected to the gambling area.” The man and woman shot in the restaurant were a gambling control man and his wife. A former gambling control employee and his friend were found in the other casino.  
“Anthony Mc Cullen is one of the managers of Gambling Control. He closed a casino last week. Guess who owned it.” Sofia stepped into the room. Her blonde hair was tied up to a pony tail and her face was very serious.  
“Officially or for real?” Sara shot back dryly.  
“For an A plus I want both.”  
“The “Lucky Hand” is officially owned by Trevor Cards, who is the brother-in-law of Luigi Castello. Castello is known as one of the active Las Vegas resident mobster of our time. Without his approval they don’t even put a new roll of toilette paper in the bathroom over there. He tells them what to do, he knows what’s going on. Cards is nothing more than a marionette. Last week LVPD shot the casino down because Las Vegas Gambling Control found out, the casino was cheating. They assumed the casino controlled who won by manipulating the machines, tables, cards and only let guest win every now and then to appear as an ordinary casino. The electronic specialists of LVPD found out the accusation was correct. Apparently they made ten million dollar per week and in good weeks even more. Most of the money wasn’t claimed to tax, they got in trouble for the black money too. Not a good week for Castello and a reason to be very mad at gambling contro.”  
“You get you’re a plus for an excellent test and an extra star for good homework.”  
“What was Mc Cullen doing here?” Sara wondered.  
“Hah, now I can earn some stars and an A plus.” Greg smiled. “This casino is owned by Mario Moreno. For real. The Moreno family hates the police, rain and especially the Castello family. These two fight with each other since three generations. If somebody enjoys the closed Lucky Hand, it’s Moreno. It wouldn’t be the first time he bribes somebody of Gambling Control. Or he’d call it an invitation to let gambling control check on his casino in style and full luxury to make their work easier.”  
“Another perfect student. I go and see if I get Moreno and will also contact Castello and Cards. Who wants to bet they try to accuse the other one?”  
“I don’t expect anything else. What connects Castello and Cards to the crime scene?”  
“Only the fact their casino was shut down by the man who lies here dead. As you said before, a very expensive reason.”  
“What about the other guests? The other victims?”  
“Surprisingly nobody heard anything, I asked around. We haven’t an I.D. on the other vics, their wallets are gone. My money is on they’re from the gambling control too.”  
“You shouldn’t bet.” Greg said.  
“Only when I win. I talk to you later.”  
“Time to concentrate on the crime scene.” Sara took a few photos. It was time to get some evidence for their suspicion and find out who really was the killer. Or killers. If she remembered the stories about mobster right, it wasn’t over when family killed somebody of the other family. And eight victims weren’t many for them. They had to find any evidence to convince one – or even better both – heads of the mafia families. If they weren’t stop a lot of more people had to die in Vegas. Very soon. 

“A caliber .37 just like the other killings. No doubt this scene belongs to the other two scenes.” Sara said. Everything pointed towards a mob killing. She wondered how many people more had to die until the families stopped. Probably they’d stop when LVPD got one or better both of them.  
“This casino belongs to Moreno and these other three men…I’m sure I saw one of them somewhere.” Greg stared at the body of a approximately twenty-five years old man. “In the news? No…a magazine! What did you do Who are you?”  
“I really wanna know…is one of them famous? Which magazine, Greg?”  
“What do I read...a surf magazine...no...nothing with cars…Casino Today! He’s a poker player! Won a million last month and accused a casino to cheat. Guess which one.”  
“One of Moreno’s casinos.”  
“Yes. Apparently he played dirty. At least that’s what the other player said – one of them was Moreno himself. Die for fame, die for the success, die for winning against the Godfather.”  
“We need to talk to Moreno.”  
“Need a ride?” Sofia came into the lab. “I want to go there, why don’t you join me?”  
“Sure.” Greg jumped up. A trip to a real mobster, what a great chance for a new chapter in his book. If he bent the rules a tiny little bit…okay, a lot, he could use some photos for his book. A book about how Moreno ended up in prison and exclusive photos of his home.  
“Not you, Sara.”  
“Why?” The brunette had no bigger intentions to go with Sofia. She was fine in the lab.  
“Because Greg is too excited. I don’t need a mob fan, I need a CSI.”  
“Oh come on.”  
“No. You didn’t want to take carpet back to the lab because it was a part of Vegas history when it was nothing more than an old, stinky carpet. You stay away from mobster, I don’t need to push their ego because you take photos of their belongings and interview them for your book.”  
Greg blushed. Busted. Caught in the act and guilty.  
“I’m…”  
“He’s professional enough to remember the job, aren’t you Greg?”  
“Uhm…I hope so…maybe…why don’t you go? And tell me later what you saw.”  
“I won’t be your source.”  
“Told you, he’s too much a fan. Move it, Sidle, it’s you and me against the mob.”  
“Great.” Sara sighed and followed Sofia. Her quiet time in the lab was over. Questioning a mobster wasn’t one of her favorite past times. Plus this interview pushed the time she could go home to noon or later. So much for going home on time, eat some breakfast and sleep for at least eight hours. It was already eight in the morning.  
“Do we have a warrant?” Sara asked when they were in the car and on the road.  
“No. We just want to talk to him. After all, we found four dead bodies in his casino.”  
“Didn’t you talk to him last night?”  
“I tried, he wasn’t available. Apparently he left the house without his cell phone to have a quiet night without getting disturb.”  
“I don’t believe he wants to talk to us.”  
“In that case we have to wonder why. And where he was last night.”  
“And don’t have enough evidence to get a warrant. All we have is circumstantial, a theory that sounds nice but we can’t proof he even knows of the killings. His lawyers will laugh their asses off.”  
“There are no such things as coincidence.”  
“There are crazy coincidences. Mostly you don’t find them in our cases.”  
“You don’t find them in our cases at all. I don’t say Moreno killed these four people himself but I bet he has something to do with it. He ordered the kill and because he can’t get through to Castello, he tries to ruin him. Castello has a reason to be mad at Mc Cullen while the poker player got a million of Moreno, a reason for him to kill.”  
“We haven’t found any connections between the other victims and Castello.”  
“Not yet. We will.”  
“So we find out he knows them all, so what? Still no warrant.”  
“Why are you so negative, Sara?”  
“Because the FBI tries since sixty years to clear the city, apparently succeeded thirty years ago and we still have mobs killing each other and other people. What makes you think we can find anything to stop it?”  
Sofia furrowed her brows. This didn’t sound like the Sara Sidle she knew. The Sara Sidle she knew was a fighter, didn’t give up only because the opponent was strong. Did it change after she changed shifts? Or had it something to do with Natalie? The brunette almost died, this could change your point of view.  
“These things never stopped you before. What’s different this time?”  
Sara was quiet for a few seconds. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this case. A very bad one.”  
“We’ll get our killer.” The blonde was quiet for a few seconds. “How is it being back at night shift?”  
“Good.”  
“I won’t ask any questions about you and Grissom, that’s your private life and you have a right to keep it private…all I want you to know is, I think they should have let you stay on nights. I’m aware of the rules, most times they’re there for a good reason, in this case I think it wasn’t necessary to get you to another shift. He never treated you any different than all others.”  
“Ecklie wasn’t happy, the rules are on his side and...well, we can cope. It’s not like we don’t see each other anymore. But thanks, Sofia.”  
“You’re welcome. If you need somebody who joins you in unison swearing about the lab weasel you’re more than welcome to come around.”  
Sara laughed shortly. “I might do that. After we’ve closed the case.”  
“Of course, first the work than the coffee and the gossip.” Sofia stopped in front of a gate. Behind the iron gate was a three story villa. When she pressed the button a metallic voice appeared.  
“Yes, please?”  
“LVPD, detective Curtis. We need to talk to Mister Moreno.”  
“Do you have an appointment with Mister Moreno?”  
“No, we need to talk to him.”  
“One moment please.”  
The gate was still closed.  
“If they don’t let us in we’ll get him downtown.” Sofia grumbled. Rich people always tried to play the police. She was used to these games.  
“How? You want to get a Swat team?”  
“If I have to, yes.”  
With a buzzing sound the gate opened. Satisfied Sofia drove up in front of the villa and got out of her car.  
“Ma’am you can’t park there.” A man came out of the front door.  
“It’s detective and I can park there.”  
“But…”  
“No but. We’re not here for a social call, we’re here on police business. Where is Moreno?”  
“Mister Moreno isn’t expecting company.”  
“Today is his lucky day, he can talk to us. Tell him we’re here and we want to talk to him. Now and not in five or ten minutes. Otherwise we can take this down town, with a lot of media and I’m sure that’s not very convenient for your boss.”  
“And which legal rights do you have to drag me down town, detective Curtis?” A man in his late fifties, with black hair, a tied back ponytail and two bodyguards behind him, stepped out of the house.  
“Obstruction of justice.”  
Moreno seemed to be a between amusement and annoyance. Annoyed that the police was at his home, amused they sent women. They couldn’t be serious with these two chicks. Who were they? The Playboy section?  
“Really? Very interesting. I can’t recall that I did anything. What can I do for you?”  
Sofia wasn’t sure if they should talk here, outside, in front of the villa. “Do you want us to talk about it here?”  
“There’s no difference between here and inside. As long as you’re real cops and not stripper.”  
“We are real. Like the bodies in your casino. I’m sure you know about them.”  
“I was informed about this and I’m very sorry for that. My men are cooperating with your men, I gave this order myself as soon as I heard of the incident. Listen, I’m sorry I wasn’t available last night but sometimes a man needs his time without being connected to the world.”  
“And you have no idea who killed these men?”  
“Are you asking for an alibi, detective?”  
“Do you have one for last night? From nine to eleven?”  
“Let me see.” He pulled his smart phone out of his pocket. “I had dinner with the mayor from eight until ten, after that I went to the “Zooner” and met Anna Angela, who had a gig there around midnight, I watched it from the VIP box and left with her around two. Do you need more details?” He smirked.  
“She will confirm this?”  
“Absolutely. For any more answers please contact my attorney, I’ve an appointment.” He stepped down the stairs and magically a black Jaguar stopped in front of him. Before he got into the car, he turned and gave Sara and Sofia a good look over. “It’s a real shame you’re real cops.” Without waiting for an answer he got into the car, closed the door.  
“I think your visit here is over.” Said the butler and closed the door.  
Sara looked at Sofia. She knew something like this would happen. There was no way Moreno would give them the answers they wanted. 

“This trip was absolutely worthless.” Frustrated Sara sat down. “I should have stayed in the lab and work on the evidence.”  
“It didn’t help to meet Moreno? Get a feeling for our suspect?”  
“And know he thinks we’re stripper? Come on, Sofia, he never took us seriously. He undressed us with his eyes, played a little bit with us and when he was bored he left us alone in front of his home. We have nothing and he had his entertainment.”  
“I have something.”  
“What?” Surprised Sara looked at the detective. What did Sofia have? More important, what did Sara miss?  
“I know he’s capable of murder. Not only send somebody to do the dirty work, he does it himself. Make him mad and he’ll use his bare hands on your throat when he has nothing else. Especially when you’re a woman. For him we’re only toys.”  
“Stripper.”  
“His mistake to underestimate us.”  
“I’m sure Brass and Grissom had gotten more of his time.”  
“No.” Sofia shook her head. “He had told them to talk to his lawyer, hadn’t waste any time on them. We don’t have any legal reasons to arrest him, we can ask him to come here but when he lawyers up he won’t say a word. Sometime you get more when the other one thinks you’re only nice decoration.”  
“Nothing we can use in the case, that gets us closer to the killer.”  
“You never know when we can use this new knowledge.”  
“I know when I work on our evidence I get something from it that really helps us.” Sara got up and left the room.  
“And I check on our mobster.” Sofia mumbled. There had to be something that connected one or both of them to the killings. One was guilty and one knew the other was the killer. It didn’t have to be Moreno, it could be also Castello who tried to pin it on his opponent. There was no question she’d find out the truth. 

“We have something new.” Greg handed Sara a CD.  
“What’s that?”  
“A copy of the security cameras. Guess what you can see on them?”  
“The killer?” It was hope that made Sara say these words. The killer on camera would almost be too good to be true.  
“No.”  
Of course not. The good feeling was gone. “What do we see?”  
“Have a look for yourself.” He insert the disc and turned on the screen. The camera showed the hallway. A couple walked by, hand in hand and vanished in a room, then nothing. For over a minute Sara starred on the screen and saw nothing but the hallway.  
“Greg, can we get to the point where we see something? Go to TOD.”  
“This is TOD and it’s all we can see.”  
“Why do you show it to me?”  
“Think about it, think about what we see or not see.”  
“We don’t see anybody…very strange when we think about the fact it’s a big casino, with a lot of guests. Did somebody manipulate the tape?”  
“The lady is right. Archie said somebody manipulate around two minutes. Divided into two pieces. More than enough time to leave the elevator, get into the room and get out later and back into the elevator. Our killer knew about the camera, knows how to manipulate it and has access to the security room.”  
“Which gets our attention away from Castello and towards Moreno. Or his security men.”  
“I called Sofia and asked her to work on the background of the security men. It’s possible one of them works in reality for Castello. Get your man in, he manipulates the tape, send your killer in, get him out, leave the tape for the police and when they find out it’s manipulated it looks like Moreno did it.”  
“Moreno is an asshole.”  
“He’s a mobster.”  
“He thought Sofia and me are stripper and not for one second he took us serious.”  
“You’re both very attractive…” The look Sara gave him made Greg shut up. “I just mean, when he doesn’t take you serious, you can use this for your advantage. Get back there, ask a few more questions, try to find things out a man couldn’t find out.”  
“Are you suggesting we should flirt with him?”  
“No, I suggest you go to the bathroom and forget the way back so you end up in a different room. Women are terrible in remembering ways.”  
“We can ask for directions, men can’t.”  
“You can do that when the butler catches you.”  
“He’s not stupid, Greg.”  
“No, but you can be very convincing, can’t you? But don’t go there alone, you need Sofia around. Because when you’re alone, get caught in the wrong room I’m not sure if that’s very healthy for you. He won’t do anything when somebody is around…even better, go there with an officer and Sofia. The more back-up is available, the better.”  
“Cath would be a good help.”  
“Or her connections to the mobster world. Sam Braun had his own history of bodies…I’m sure of that.”  
“You don’t have evidence.”  
“I’ve a gut feeling.”  
“Eat something and it will go away.” Sara took the CD. “Go and show this Sofia, you and her can talk to the security men.”  
“I’d prefer to talk to Castello.”  
“Always remember you’re a crime scene investigator not a crime book writer.”  
“I’m a great CSI and I could be a great author too.” He grinned and left the room. 

“Ready for the next mobster?” Sofia asked when Sara joined her on their way to the interrogation room. Castello and his lawyer were already there, waiting for them. Sofia wasn’t in a hurry when she called Sara and told her about the visitor. Why not let him wait a few minutes?  
“Got no other choice.” And she knew when they were done with Castello Moreno was waiting in the next room. It was his casino, his video tape, they had to talk to him again. And so would noon pass by.  
“A little bit more enthusiasm please. Greg was over the moon when he and Mitchell left to talk to Castello.”  
“Why don’t you take him with you?”  
“You’re the leading CSI. Did the evidence tell you anything new?”  
“It told me there was a man with boots in the room, size eleven. None of the vics had boots on and none had size eleven. The housekeeper wear no boots and none of them is a size eleven. There wasn’t maintenance in the room for a while and the print was fresh.”  
“Wow.” Sofia stopped. “I can’t remember I saw a print in the room when I was there. How could I miss that?”  
“It wasn’t in the room and it was invisible.”  
“I beg your pardon?”  
“The print was in front of the door. On the doormat. I took it into the lap for traces and thought I check it for prints because I felt like we deserve something good. The boots were wet when they were on the mat. It didn’t rain in Vegas the last days.”  
“How do you know whoever owns the boots was inside the room when the mat was in front of the door? From the outside.”  
“The toes point towards the door. Why would somebody stand like this there when he doesn’t go in? To listen? Makes him also very interesting for us. Why would somebody spy on the men? Or was this person only after Mc Cullen because it was his room? Makes the other three collateral damage. ”  
“So we have an unknown man in the room. Or a woman with big feet.”  
“And men’s boots on.”  
“Got a brand?”  
“No, for these fine details the print wasn’t good enough. Sorry.”  
“You got us a good information. What size do you think has Moreno?”  
“Not an eleven, he’s not tall enough.” The man was barely taller than Sara. Maybe that was another reason why he was so disgusting. He had to make himself bigger. Make more out of himself than he was.  
“That’s what I think. Lets see what size Castello has. Pretty good job, Sara.”  
“Told you it’s better to stay in the lab and let the evidence talk than listen to an egocentric mobster.”  
“I’m sure we’ll talk to him again. With more time. Now we listen to his best friend, I bet Castello will try everything to make us believe Moreno has something to do with the bodies.”  
“I’d believe him. Like I’d believe Moreno Castello has something to do with them. They’re both good suspects, not very likeable people.”  
“We can’t arrest somebody for being an asshole.”  
“No. The good thing is, being an asshole is the best part of these men, we’ll find plenty of other things we might be able to arrest them for. Including murder.”  
“That’s the spirit I missed before.” The blonde grinned. “Clenching teeth is much more Sara Sidle than complaining and constant negativism.”  
“Realism. We didn’t have much about our possible killer before.”  
“Lets see if we get something more.”  
“A confession, case closed.”  
“See the bright side, you can work with me. When the case is closed you’ve to go back to swing shift and work with the detectives there. They’re not as good as I am.”  
“I think we let them wait long enough.” Sara grinned and opened the door for Sofia. The blonde was right, none of the detectives she worked with on swing shift was a good as Sofia, none had the CSI knowledge the blonde had and none was…Sofia was more a friend than a colleague. And saved her life, was a part of the rescue team. She’d always be special – but there was no reason to tell her and make her even more smugger than she already was.  
“Mister Castello, this is CSI Sidle I’m detective Curtis, thanks for coming here.” Sofia sat across the mobster. He didn’t look much different to Moreno, was in his late fifties, long gray hair tied back to a ponytail, dark eyes and wore a lot of jewelries to his very expensive looking suit. His lawyer, around the same age, wore a not less cheaper looking suit. Italian brand.  
“My client hasn’t done anything wrong.”  
“I didn’t accuse him of anything, did I? All I did was introducing CSI Sidle and myself. We’d like the help of your client to find out who killed the people in a casino last night. A safe city should be in his interest too.”  
“Of course it is. He cooperates with the police.”  
“Does this include his lawyer?” Sofia smiled.  
“I’m doing my job.”  
“So do we. Mister Castello, the four men we found last night were killed the same way like four other men within the last week. Two of them were killed in your casino, four days ago. Now we have four bodies in Moreno’s casino. And like in the cases before the victims were all connected to you, Moreno or Gambling Control. One of your casinos was closed by Gambling Control.”  
“For no reasons!”  
“Your tables and machines were manipulated so the house won more than usual or only special people won. People who are your friends. You lost a lot of money due the close-down and I’m sure you weren’t happy about it.”  
“Of course not. That doesn’t mean I walk into a filthy casino and kill four people.”  
“Have you ever been to one of Moreno’s casinos?”  
“What for? He’s a liar, a thief and cheater, his casinos won’t be any different than he is.”  
“What do you think of Anthony Mc Cullen?”  
“He’s the pet of a pig.”  
Castello didn’t deny he knew the man who closed-down his casinos. That was smart, a lie would have been too obvious. Gave Sofia something.  
“Was.”  
“What?”  
“Was. If you want to accuse him of anything you have to say he was. He’s dead. And he closed your casino which makes you a suspect. Where have you been at the time of the murder of these four men? From eight to midnight last night.”  
“Every night I’ve dinner at eight at home with my family. After that my chauffeur drove me to my office in the “Winning Smile” where I worked until one. The same chauffeur drove me back home.”  
“You work late.”  
“So do you, detective. This is Vegas, main business times are later than in other cities. And I like to know how much money I earned every day so I make sure I get the numbers all and first. Those are my casinos and I like to know what happened and happens in them. If everybody did his job as good as I do you had less work. Nobody kills four men in my casino.”  
“There were two bodies in one for your casinos, we talked about it four days ago, the case is still open. So people do die in or around your casino. After your words I assume they don’t die without your knowledge.”  
“Detective Curtis, I want you to stop treating my client like a killer. He’s innocent.”  
“What shoe size do you have?” Sara asked Castello. She had heard enough and wanted some answers to her evidence, something she could work with.  
“Why?”  
“Just a question.”  
“Nine and a half.”  
“Thank you. Are the hotels in Vegas are good booked at the moment?”  
“There’s a box fight on the weekend, Lady, you work here, you know what that means.”  
“Are your hotels fully booked?”  
“Almost.”  
“So there are a lot of people walking around, like in other hotels too.”  
“Of course.”  
“Do you employ IT experts?” Sara knew he did. One of his experts was responsible for the manipulation of the tables and slot machines.  
“Of course, I own four casinos and there’s a lot of delicate electronic machines inside. From the gambling area to the rooms. No door opens without a computer.”  
“I assume they’re good and can, lets say, work on a video tape so it looks like you watch a scene for a while, nothing happens because you watch the same ten seconds over and over again.”  
“Why would they do that?”  
“So certain people can’t be seen going to a certain place. Can be very helpful when you don’t want everybody who is in the casino, who goes into which rooms.”  
“Are you accusing my client of manipulating videos in his casinos?”  
“No I asked if his people can do this.”  
“Every IT expert can do this. That’s why they’re experts. My people don’t do it, there’s no reason for it. The video surveillance is for the security of our guests and our staff. We caught a lot of cheaters on camera, it’s important they run perfectly and show us in real time what’s going on.”  
“Do you employ somebody who worked for Moreno before?”  
“No!”  
“Everybody who applies for a job in your casinos will be rejected if he or she worked for Moreno before?”  
“It’s my decision who works for me and I don’t feel safe or comfortable having somebody around who worked for a criminal. There are rules ins life, this one of my rules.”  
An interesting answer. Sara wondered if Moreno thought the same about people who worked for Castello. She’d find out very soon. 

“What’s your opinion on this suspect?” Sofia asked after they finished talking to Castello and had a coffee. One more interview and they could go home and get some sleep. It was about time for them, they both were close to pull a double – again.  
“He has a motive, he has the people to do it, he didn’t do it himself. I don’t care for his alibi, he isn’t a man who makes his own hands dirty. He has people to do so and we should have a closer look at the people he employs. First for a hitman and second for somebody he could have plant into Moreno’s casino, an inside man who manipulates the tapes for the time the hitman does his job.”  
“One of his men in Moreno’s casinos gives him a lot of information about the security and everything else in the casino. Like a hint that tables and slots aren’t working the way they should. You leak this information to Gambling Control and your worst enemy gets a lot of trouble, a fine and a casino closed-down. A lot of satisfaction for yourself.”  
“Payback is a bitch. What is Moreno ordered the men to kill? To make Castello look guilty. Pin a four times murder case on your worst enemy, if he gets convicted you don’t have to put up with him again. He gets the needle, you can have his casinos for a bargain. And offer rooms that made Vegas history in your own casino. The room Castello shot four people and got the needle for it. There are a lot of sick people who’d pay a lot of money for a room like this.”  
“Yes. Both have opportunity and motive. Shall we talk to Moreno? Maybe he doesn’t think of stripper when he sees us here.”  
“He won’t take us serious, we’re only women.”  
“I plan to use this for our advantage. He won’t have his lawyer with him, he can handle us himself.”  
“Arrogant.”  
“Didn’t you say the same about me?”  
“No, you’re smug.” Sara smiled. “That’s different. You are simpatico he isn’t.”  
“Thanks. We need to talk about you calling me smug one day. Not today, today we need to get a mobster and his killer.”  
“And maybe we manage to get a second mobster off the roads just for the fact he’s a mobster.”  
“We’re good, we can do that.” Sofia opened the door to the interrogation room for Sara. Like she said before, Moreno was there without a lawyer. If he was as easy to play as he was to look through they should get their answers soon.  
“Mister Moreno, thanks for coming in.” Sofia sent him her sweetest smile. She knew he wasn’t there because they sent a friendly request, the two officers she sent to get him (he wasn’t worth she bothered with him) told him very clear if he didn’t come with them voluntary they’d get a warrant and get him downtown with the press. A scenery his best friend Castello surely enjoyed.  
“Ladies, if you missed me this much why didn’t you come to my place after work? I’m sure we could have found something that will satisfy all three of us at the same time.”  
“Did it slipped your mind we’re cops?” Sofia sat down, leant back and studied him cool. “Do we wait for your lawyer?”  
“What do I need a lawyer for? A ménage a trois is much more interesting.”  
“We don’t need your lawyer to talk to you. Now that you have a little bit more time on your hands we can discuss the death of four men in your casino again.”  
“Did you find out who killed them?”  
“The investigation is ongoing. We got some new information, talked to your employees. A few new questions occurred. Miss Sidle found interesting evidence.” Sofia looked at Sara and saw the hate and disgust in her eyes about the mobster. The brunette needed all her professionalism for Moreno.  
“We had a look at the security tapes we got from the casino. The one that showed the hallway and the door to the room with the bodies inside was manipulated. We spoke with your employees, they say none of them did this.”  
“Of course not, my people are good.” He seemed to be amused about her statement, like she was a child who tried to find out if Santa Claus was real.  
“Do you have any idea who manipulated the tape? If not one of your men. I mean, we got the tape from them, took it here and found out it doesn’t show what really happened. Conveniently only the time when the killer enters and leaves the room is missing. We do have guests on tape and the room service twice.”  
“Did you talk to Castello?” That was fast. Less than two minutes and Moreno tried to pin the death on Castello. None of the women were surprised by this.  
“What has he to do with your security team?”  
“He has people who can manipulate computer from the outside. I bet this bastard got himself a geek who got into my security system, turned the tape on hold and sent a killer inside my hotel.” Wasn’t that one of their theories? It was interesting Moreno came up with the same idea. Did he think the same about the two dead people in Castellos’s casino? That he himself sent somebody in there to kill them?  
“Why would he do that?”  
“To get me in trouble. A lot of bodies in my hotel, people will be afraid and won’t come to me anymore. They’ll go to his casinos, more money for him, the cops for me and when he’s lucky and the investigation goes wrong I’m in trouble.”  
“You think he set you up and frames his killings on you?” Sofia asked serious. He lectured them again.  
“Yes.”  
“Do you employ somebody who worked for Castello before?”  
“No.”  
“How many people do you employ?”  
“Over five hundred.”  
“And you know none of them worked for Castello? This is Vegas, people jump from one casino job to another. Are you there when a cleaner gets employed?”  
“The people who employ my staff like cleaner or dealer are told not to employ staff that has worked for Castello before. I don’t want somebody in my buildings who worked for the rat.”  
“The rat?”  
“Yeah, you saw him recently? His ponytail is as thin as the tail of a rat. A ridiculous and desperate try to cover up his bold head. Some men don’t have style and no looks. I bet his ponytail isn’t the only thin and tiny tail he has.”  
“Don’t you think it’s more likely that one of your men manipulated the video?”  
“Why would my men do this?”  
“Because they got the order to do it.”  
“Are you accusing me of killing these four men, detective Curtis?”  
“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t kill them yourself. You have your people to do the dirty work. Lets face it, Moreno, these four men were found dead in your casino hotel, your security tape was manipulated, the people had access to it are your men. One of these men closed-down a casino of Castello which is a personal success for you. I bet your casinos are dirty too and they were there to find out if you do the same things Castello does. They got their answers, you kill them. This way they can’t publish them and you can make Castello look guilty, make him look like he killed them because of his closed casino. A smart plan.”  
“That’s ridiculous.”  
“No, it isn’t.”  
“You have no evidence to prove this.”  
“We’re working on evidence and everything points towards you. Motive, opportunity, skills.”  
“Don’t you think I’m way too smart to get caught if I do something like that?”  
“I think you’re way too arrogant to believe women can be your downfall. We’ll prove you wrong.”  
“Don’t get yourself in trouble, detective.”  
“Are you threatening me, Mister Moreno?” Sofia bent over and gave the man an ice cold glace.  
“I gave you an advice.”  
“Thanks, I don’t need advices. I need a list of the names of your bodyguards.”  
“What for?”  
“I’d like to talk to them.”  
“Maybe you should talk to my lawyer too.”  
“If you’ve got anything to hide.” The blonde smiled. It wasn’t her intention to talk to a lawyer, she wouldn’t get any information this way but making Moreno call out for a lawyer was a little success. Now he should understand they weren’t stripper.  
“And if you’re like Castello you should get your lawyer.” Sara added. Just the right pinch of salt in an open wound.  
“This coward came here with a lawyer? Aren’t only the guilty ones come in with a lawyer?”  
“Not necessarily. People with a lot of money come here with a lawyer, guilty ones and the innocent ones that got set up by somebody.”  
“That would be me, the set up one.”  
“If you were set up it’s in your best interest we talk to your employees to clarify your innocence. Saves you looking like Castello and sit here with lawyer.”  
“Do what you think is right. I told you before my people cooperate with you. If you want to talk to them, I’m sure you talked to most of them already, continue it. And if you want to talk to me again, why don’t you give me a call and we can meet somewhere more comfortable. I’ve a nice pool with a bar.”  
“Sorry, we like to work more professional. On the Strip they give away phone numbers of women who would enjoy your pool, you can invite them.” Sofia got up. “We’ll contact you when we have more questions.”  
“I’m glad you have my number, can I have yours?”  
“Just call the department, they’ll connect you.”  
“Ouch.”  
“You’re just not her type, Moreno.” Sara grinned and followed Sofia. “And before you bother to ask: you’re not mine either.”  
Blinking at each other they left the room and closed the door. No confession again, Moreno tried to pin it on Castello, like they expected. The most interesting thing they found out that he tried to threaten Sofia. His biggest mistake. This made both women very interested in him; in a not good way for him. 

After a couple hours of sleep Sara was back in the lab. She wanted to work on the evidence for a few more hours before she went back home after midnight to be back in the morning. It was easier to talk to witnesses and suspects during daytime.  
“Hey, slept tight?” Sofia came into the lab. There shadows under the eyes of the blonde, approximately the same size like Sara’s.  
“Didn’t get a lot sleep. What about you?”  
“Same. Four hours. I’m back in the department since two hours.”  
“Found something out?”  
“I crosschecked all people who are working for Moreno at the moment. There’s nobody who worked before for Castello. A few of his employees have a rap sheet. The bodyguards have been in custody a few times for assault. Mostly in the line of duty. Or it was told they were protecting Moreno. One vic claimed he was assaulted in the casino for no reason. He won a few games on the poker table, made a small fortune on black jack and when he wanted to get into the red zone, the place for the high roller, he apparently met Moreno, lost his money on a few games and attacked him. That is Moreno’s story, the vic said, Moreno’s bodyguards punched him because he continued winning and Moreno didn’t like it. He was asked to leave the casino without a reason, when he refused they beat him.”  
“Interesting. Anybody ever got convicted for any assault with a weapon?”  
“No. I did have a conversation with Greg before I came to you and he said, it’s highly unlikely Moreno uses his bodyguards to kill somebody. They are too close to him and we should have a look for professional hit men. I’ve a list with names of men who worked for various mobster or were suspects in killing cases.”  
“Will you talk to all of them?”  
“Yeah. I start with my top ten.”  
“Good luck. I work on the fibers we found. And there was a hair in the room that doesn’t belong to one of the vics. Greg got cross samples from the cleaning crew of the last week and works on the DNA. It’s a male hair, longish, almost six inches.”  
“When we get a hit in CODIS or any of the other ‘is’ it would help a lot.”  
“Yeah, we keep you posted.”  
“Thanks.”  
“Will you look for the hit men now?”  
“Now they might be at home – or working another job. I try my luck.”  
“Did you check Castello’s men as well?”  
“Yes. He has four people working for him who worked before for Moreno. Two cleaner, one dealer and a receptionist. So much for no staff member worked for the other one before. We get them in, I can’t see any of them manipulating the video, they don’t have the skill but they might have a few security numbers, the knowledge of the casino hotel. Or distracted the other people at the right moment. You never know. We check on them, get their DNA.”  
“Good. Give me a call if you need me. I call you as soon as we found out something new.”  
“Thanks. Talk to you later.”  
“Later detective.” Sara turned back to her fibers. Eight dead bodies, three crime scenes and all they had was the knowledge it was the same caliber and the same modus operandi. It was about time they got a suspect. One they could connect to the crime scene with evidence. And not theories. 

“Seven out of ten” With a coffee Sofia joined Sara in the break room.  
“Beg your pardon?”  
“I talked to seven of the ten interesting men. They all have alibis, we are checking them at the moment. Two of them said they worked for Castello before, as a bodyguard. We have a closer look into their alibi, look for some more information about them but…I don’t have the feeling one of the is our guy.”  
“Why?”  
“I can’t see them as the killer…they worked for Castello and I like Moreno as the killer. There is something about him…my guts tell me it’s him. I have one man high on my list, unfortunately we didn’t get hold on him so far. He worked a few jobs for Moreno, unofficially. Can you remember the dead woman we had two years ago? We found her behind a Castello casino but she was known for being a girlfriend of Moreno. First we thought Castello killed the lover of his enemy but during the investigation it became clear it’s more likely Moreno ordered her death. She cheated on him, not good when you have a boyfriend with an ego like him and there were rumors she gave Castello a few information about Moreno.  
We had them both in, we had a few of their people in and one guy had everything that made my guts call: killer! His alibi wasn’t great, it checked out anyway but you can buy a call girl and make her tell the police he was with her. He had GSR on his hands, claimed he was target shooting in the desert. There was a lot of circumstantial evidence, nothing we could use for a conviction. He vanished for over a year, came back six months ago and I really want to talk to him.”  
“Sounds like a good suspect. Is he good with IT?”  
“Not that I know of. I’m sure he had help, somebody manipulated the tape. I try to get a judge to give me a warrant for the bank accounts of all men who worked at the evening in the surveillance room.”  
“He could be paid cash.”  
“Yeah and I will never get a warrant to have a look at Moreno’s financial situation. Like I’ve no idea about what kind of amount I’ve to look for. It could be everything.”  
“Or nothing. You kidnap the wife of one of the men, tell him if he doesn’t work on the tape his wife will die, he does it, gives the tape to the police, you let the wife walk and there is no evidence anything ever happened. Wife and worker know when she got kidnapped once it can happen again, even when they move to another place, so they keep quiet.” Sara said. Moreno had a lot of money, he had friend and family all over the country and above. If he wanted somebody out of his way it was only a matter of time – short time – before he had what he wanted.  
“I want to talk to him again. If I push enough he might make a mistake.”  
“He might send you his lawyer.”  
“Means for me he is guilty.”  
“Or he knows something.”  
“They both know who the killer is, or who ordered the kill. The problem is, no matter how much they hate each other, they won’t tell us what they know. It’s against the mobster rules. Moreno killed two of Castello’s people and he doesn’t tell us, doesn’t let us put him in jail. Okay, Moreno can give us enough to put Castello away as well…the perfect end of this story. Both men in jail. Unfortunately it’s a wish that won’t come true.”  
“We’re the bad ones, they don’t talk to us.”  
“Exactly.”  
“What about the killer you like for this job?”  
“He is on the radio and as soon as we have him, I’ll talk to him.”  
“He’ll know you look for him and might be long gone.”  
“You think they’re done with their war?”  
“No. They’ll never be done. A reason why we have to stop them. One more crime scene and we have the Feds with us. The Sheriff mentioned something about them today.”  
“Great, more pressure. I better get started.”  
“Same here. Time to annoy a mobster and catch a hitman.”  
“Be careful, Sofia.”  
“You worry about me? That’s cute. I’m a big cop and can take care of myself. Thanks.” With a grin the blonde left the room.  
Sara sighed. Her bad feeling was still there. This case wasn’t a good case. Not only because there were three crime scenes and they had barely anything to work with. There was something else, something she couldn’t give a name yet. 

Still no sign of her killer but Sofia had annoyed Moreno and Castello a little bit more. Both only talked through their lawyer to her, both had of course no idea and didn’t know where the man was, they were looking for.  
Another eight hours of work were over, she had nothing else to work on at the moment until the man they were after showed up. Time to go home, have some sleep. The job as a detective told her, it was always possible the night was short when you worked on a case. And Sofia worked on three cases. So when she had the chance to squeeze in some sleep she should take the chance.  
Getting a letter out of the post box she jumped up the stairs to her apartment. A parcel and the newspaper waited for her in front of the door. One of the neighbors must have been so kind and carried it up for her. Unlocking the door she carried everything inside. Quite a heavy parcel. What did she order? Did she order anything at all? New shoes? No, she got them two days ago. What else? A few books? Maybe. She bought a few on Ebay and lost track of the books she received already and the ones she was waiting for. When her dinner was on the oven she should have a look if she had all books or if she had to contact some of the seller.  
Throwing the frozen vegetables into water she took the meat out of the fridge. When the water was boiling it was time to start the meat. Until then she could have a look what book was in the parcel. With a knife she opened the parcel and before she could have a look inside she smelled something that told her, there weren’t books inside. A second later she saw where the strange and so familiar smell came from and jumped back scared.  
“Jesus fucking Christ! Ouch!” She ended on a wall, her kitchen was too narrow for a surprised jump back. This had to be a joke. After a deep breath she took a step and looked into the parcel again.  
If it was a joke it was a stinky one. And not a good one. There was, blood inside the parcel. Blood, a plastic bag so the blood didn’t get through the parcel and in the middle was a head. Or the head of a horse. A real one. She saw the eyes, dead eyes staring at her. Who the hell sent her a horse head?  
“They must be fucking kidding me. Bloody mobster.” It had to a gift of Moreno or Castello. They weren’t the only ones who watched “The Godfather” and she was aware of the meaning of the horse head.  
“Okay, so they sent me a bloody gift and know where I live. This is evidence.” For a moment she thought about calling her colleagues but what was she supposed to do with cops in her apartment? There was no need for them. She needed a CSI.  
“Sidle.”  
“It’s Sofia. I have some evidence that might be important for our cases. No, it is important and connected to our cases.”  
“Didn’t you go home? Where did you find evidence of our cases?”  
“Lets say the evidence found me. I need you here at my place.”  
“Is this a joke?”  
“No…not a funny one.”  
“Sofia, what happened?” The fear was in Sara’s voice now.  
“Somebody sent me a parcel with a horse head. I need CSI to take the evidence to the lab and get the traces.”  
“A horse head?”  
“Yes, ‘The Godfather’ says hello.”  
“Did you call your colleagues?”  
“I need a CSI not a cop.”  
“Call your colleagues, I’m on my way. Lock the door, check your apartment.”  
“Yes ma’am.” Sofia ended the call and looked at the parcel. A horse head. This fucker knew her address and tried to scare her away. Not with her. If he thought she was scared this easily he would see how wrong he was. No matter if ‘he’ was Moreno or Castello, Sofia wouldn’t back off and let them continue their killings. Now she was especially interested in nailing their asses – both of them! 

“That’s disgusting.” Sara had to swallow a few times. On her way to the apartment of the blonde she hoped it was only a faked horse head, now she stood in front of the parcel and had to realize it was a real head. Meant somewhere a horse had to die to send Sofia this ridiculous message.  
“Are you all right Sofia?”  
“Yeah. A little bit sick to the stomach but all right.” The blonde sipped on her coffee.  
“Did you call it in?”  
“I called Brass, he sent a black and white to secure the scene. My neighbors won’t be happy when they can’t use the staircase for a few hours because Greg works there.”  
“Did you talk to your neighbors?”  
“That was my plan but Brass told me to stay inside, he’ll send somebody over to do it. I’m kind of involved in this case.”  
“Your captain did the right thing.”  
Surprised Sara and Sofia turned. A man in a black suit stood in the door frame. He didn’t need a closer introduction, both women knew who he was. Or more, for what department he worked for.  
“First the head of a dead horse and now a Fed in my apartment. Great.” Did Brass really call the FBI?  
“I’m agent Wood, detective Curtis I need you to tell me what exactly happened.” He ignored her tone and words.  
“I came home, found a parcel in front of my door, took it inside, opened it, saw the head and called CSI Sidle.”  
“Why didn’t you call your captain?”  
“Because I need a CSI to process the scene. I can do the police work myself.”  
“You’re the victim.”  
“No, I’m not the victim, my head is still where it belongs. The horse is the victim.”  
“You’re working a case involving two suspects who are suspected to be mobster…”  
“Oh come Wood, we all know Castello and Moreno are mobster. You can’t tell me the FBI doesn’t have a thick file of them. One of the watched too often ‘The Godfather’ and thought it’s a good idea to scare me with a head. Means I stepped on their toes.”  
“It means they threatened you.”  
“It comes with the job.”  
“Do you have any idea who sent the parcel to you?”  
“My guts say Moreno.”  
“Do you have any evidence to prove your gut feeling?”  
“No. Sara?”  
“I haven’t gotten much, need to get the parcel into the lab.” Sara was done bagging the parcel. In the lab she had more possibilities to work on it, find traces.  
“You will report to me, CSI Sidle. We take this case now.”  
“No fucking way!”  
“Detective Curtis!”  
“Agent Wood, I got something otherwise they hadn’t sent me this. They try to scare me, keep me away. If you tell me to stay away you do exactly what they want. I’ve no problems to cooperate with the FBI but I won’t back off.”  
“You won’t contact any of them without an agent by your side.”  
“Deal.” That was easy. She expected more to come, for the moment she was happy with him letting her stay.  
“We let the CSI and my men do the rest of the work and go back to the department. There you’ll give me all the details of what you have on Castello and Moreno so far and about this parcel. CSI Sidle, we want answers.”  
“We all want answers, agent.” Sara answered coolly. “I give you all the answers I have after I had a look at the parcel.”  
Agent Wood mumbled something about women who have no respect for ranks and followed Sara. With a sigh Sofia got up. She had to leave her apartment to the FBI and go with Wood to cooperate. Why did Jim call them? It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle this alone or with LVPD. Nobody needed the Feds. 

“Got any news?”  
“I can tell you what bread the horse was.” Sara took a folder. “A Quarter Horse, approximately fifteen years old. Neither Castello nor Moreno have Quarter horses. There are around a thousand others in the Vegas district, we try to check if one of the owner is connected to one of our mobster.”  
“And when somebody finds a dead horse in the desert without a head we know it was mine.”  
“It won’t be in the desert for long, wild animals will make it disappear. Maybe a few bones will be fond.”  
“Anything off the parcel?”  
“No post stamp, no return address, no surprise on these two things. It’s an ordinary post parcel you can buy in every post shop. The tape was warehouse tape, they sell hundreds of them every day. Almost every family has one or two rolls of it at home. The plastic bag was from Wal Mart. We can have a look if Castello or Moreno shop at them or one of their employees and I’m sure we get a hit…”  
“Everybody shops there. It doesn’t prove they sent the head.”  
“Did your officers get anything of your neighbors?”  
“Yes. The parcel was delivered in a black delivery van, no name on it. The man who got it into the house had no accent, was over six feet, wore black jeans, black boots, black shirt, a black baseball cap and sunshades. My neighbors Misses Elbony let him in. She is in her early nineties, the description she gave us was the best she could do without making anything up. No face description, no tattoos, no rings.”  
“A lot of no and a lot of like many people.”  
“Yes and no. Remember the hitman I’m looking for?”  
“Yes.”  
“He fits the description. I know a lot of men fit this description but he does too. And that’s an interesting coincidence.”  
“It is. What does the FBI say about this?”  
“They’re looking for him too and ordered all the security men from Moreno’s casino back into interrogation. One of them manipulated the video, they checked the financial for a boost in money, nothing showed up but interestingly a man from Castello’s IT men had out of the blue fifty thousand dollars more on his account.”  
“Out of the blue? A fairy came along and with her magic there was a lot of money? Or how did he explain it?”  
“He didn’t. He was the one who went to the bank and told them, he doesn’t know the person who sent the money to him and it can’t be his.”  
“A man finds fifty thousand dollars on his account, goes to the bank and complains about the money? Really?” Sara was surprised. This sounded too strange. Why would anybody tell the bank the money on their account wasn’t theirs?  
“The bank wondered as well. The money comes from an account in the Cayman, they couldn’t trace it back. The FBI is on it. The reason why the man came to the bank is, a couple of years ago his grandmother sent money to an account for her home. Unfortunately the made a mistake with the numbers and when the company she was supposed to send the money to, told her if she doesn’t pay right away she’ll lose the house, the realized the mistakes. That was four weeks later and whoever got the money had taken it off his account, closed the account and left the town. Two hundred thousand dollar. Poor old grandma lost her house, all her money and lives in a tiny apartment.”  
“How did grandmother get all this money?”  
“She sold her old house, got money because her husband died in a war and loaned fifty thousand from the bank.”  
“Exactly the money he got.”  
“Remembering this story he felt guilty not saying a word in case a poor woman like his grandmother made a mistake and lose everything when the money was gone.”  
“Sounds like a sweet Hollywood story.”  
“Too sweet to be true, isn’t it?” Sofia grinned. She didn’t believe the story herself when she heard it for the first time. Like Sara said, too much of Hollywood, too much of coincidences and too many good people involved with a conscience.  
“Yes.”  
“The FBI checked the story and so far it’s true. My guess is somebody tried to set him up. Make him look guilty. Look, here’s the guy who suddenly has a lot of money. Why does he have the money? Because Castello paid him to mess up the tape. Point the finger straight to Castello, make him suspect number one.”  
“Not for you.”  
“No. We know Moreno and Castello have accounts on the Cayman Island, there is no proof but we all know. This was Moreno and I’m going to him now and tell him, his little game didn’t work out.”  
“Want me to join you?” The idea Sofia went to the mobster alone made Sara very uncomfortable.  
“No, I’ve a suit with me. They like to follow me as soon as I leave this building, even put up surveillance for my place.”  
“Take care anyway, will you?”  
“Of course. I’ll kick his ass carefully so my boots don’t get dirty. Get me something to nail his ass, will you?”  
“If there’s anything I’ll find it.”  
“Thanks.” Sofia left the room. Time to make Moreno nervous. 

“Detective Curtis, what happened to the beautiful woman who was with you the last times you missed me?” Moreno’s smile was thin. He didn’t try to hide how annoyed he was with Sofia’s presence.  
“I thought you like my men in black more. They’re smart men. May I introduce you to Agent Wood, he has a couple of questions.”  
“Why don’t you contact my attorney?”  
“No problem, you can come with us to the department.” The smile Sofia sent the mobster was smug. It was almost dinner time, if he insisted on his attorney he’d miss his dinner and that was something he didn’t like. Oh, how she liked to annoy him.  
“What is your question?”  
“Have you seen this before?” Agent Wood put a photo of the head on the table.  
Moreno’s face stayed straight. He studied the photo and pushed it away. “Interesting. Who sent you a horse head? I hope it’s a faked one, agent Wood.”  
“Actually detective Curtis got it. Did you ever watch ‘The Godfather’?”  
“I doubt there are many people who hasn’t watched these movies. Yes, I watched it and I’m aware of the horse scene. What does this have to do with me?”  
“You have horses.”  
“Yes. And as far as I’m informed they all have their heads. Do you want me give you the address of the stables so you can have a look yourself?”  
“We don’t expect to find a dead horse there, we know you’re smarter Moreno.”  
“You know so many things about me and I know nothing about you. Not very fair, don’t you think?”  
“What do you know the people who are in and around your house?”  
“Of course, they’re my family or my employees.”  
“Tony Salsa.”  
“I beg your pardon?”  
“Tony Salsa. You know him. He worked for you.”  
“He was my bodyguard, yes. Is he all right?”  
“He looked perfectly fine when I saw him two minutes ago getting into his car in front of your house. I assume he was here to pay you a visit, talk about old times so you know how he is. Is he working for you again?”  
“No, I’ve enough bodyguards.”  
“Any special jobs for him?”  
“Like what? Decapitating horses? Don’t be ridiculous, detective Curtis.”  
“Murder is his main business, isn’t it?”  
“You mistake him with the butcher.”  
“We’d like to talk to him, I’m sure you have his cell phone number.”  
“Will you give me the number of Miss Sidle?”  
“Why would I do that?”  
“Because you asked for a number of a friend of mine. I do the same with your friend.”  
“She’s a colleague.”  
“No, she’s a friend. Do I get her number? The private number, not the business number. I can call the CSI lab myself and asked them to connect me.”  
“No.”  
“See, why would I give you the number of my friend?”  
“This isn’t a game, Moreno, it’s a FBI investigation. We want the number of Salsa. Don’t play with us.” Wood said.  
“Now the big men in black protect the small blonde woman, interesting. Like King Kong.” Moreno took a piece of paper and wrote a few numbers on it.  
“Add the address of his apartment to it as well.”  
“I’m sorry I have no idea where he lives. I’ve never been to his place.” He handed the paper over. “Can I have dinner now or do you have more questions?”  
“No, only an information: nice idea with the fifty thousand dollar for the IT man. If we had found it he had made it to the top of our list, so had Castello. Unfortunately you sent the money to an honest man, he went to the bank and told them, it’s not his money. Bad luck, Moreno. Next time you should do your homework and think about who you try to bribe. And yes I know, you’ve no idea what I’m talking about.” Sofia grinned, turned and left the room. If the number they got was correct she didn’t know but she left the place with a point. Painful for a man like Moreno. 

They didn’t get Salsa last night, a thing that annoyed Sofia a little bit. The number was a cell phone number, answered by a mail box that didn’t give you the name of the owner of the phone owner. Could be everybody, could be Salsa. She decided to let the FBI deal with that when she went home. Her apartment needed fresh air, the smell of blood was still all over the place and Sofia slept with open windows.  
After a run and breakfast she made herself ready for work. Dressed in black, she took her backpack and left the apartment. No parcel was in front of her door, the staircase looked like before. Besides Misses Elbony nobody had seen the man with the parcel but most people worked and weren’t at home. She unlocked her car with the button on her keys when she heard a noise behind her. Her files fell out the backpack. Great. Before she had the chance to bend down and pick them up a gust of wind picked them up and distributed the sheets all over the car park.  
“For crying out loud!” Getting the sheets back, jumping a little bit like a mad woman she was about the get the last sheet when noise, heat and a wave got her body and pushed her down. Pieces of something rained down on her and when she turned to see what happened her car was gone and the cars next to it were on fire. Her car blew up.  
“Shit.” She pulled her cell phone out of the pocket. “Jim? Somebody blew off my car!” Despite the fact she was angry her voice was shaky from the shock.  
“Are you all right?”  
“I wasn’t inside otherwise I couldn’t call you.”  
“Where are you?”  
“In front of my apartment.”  
“Get back inside, I come over. Damn it Sofia, you pissed somebody really off!”  
She was aware of that. Somebody tried to kill her. First she got a head of a dead horse and now her car was only piece. In a distance she heard sirens and the first people came around to have a look what happened. Her neighbors were outside, a few swore when they saw their cars in fire, a young student came to Sofia. He lived next to her and they spoke sometimes for a couple of minutes. Ben was his name.  
“Are you all right?”  
“Yeah, nothing happened. I only got dirty.”  
“What happened?”  
“My car exploded.”  
“Seriously?”  
“It’s gone…well the pieces are still here but you need a very good mechanic to get all these pieces together and have my car back.”  
“First you get this parcel which gets the FBI to us. I won’t ask what was inside, you probably can’t tell me and now somebody blows off your car. Who did you piss off Sofia?”  
“A mobster.”  
“What?”  
“Comes with the job.”  
“I can’t remember somebody tried to kill you before.”  
“There’s a first time for everything.”  
“In that case I think I pack my stuff and move for a couple of days to my parents. If you continue to piss this guy off he might blew off your apartment I don’t want to sit in mine, next to yours, and end up like you car. Sorry.”  
“Understandable. Sorry Ben but I can’t let him go, he killed six people.”  
“He almost killed you and I’m sure he isn’t done trying.” Ben looked at the firefighters drowsing what was left of the cars, shook his head and went back into the building. A head in a parcel and a car in million pieces, this didn’t seem to be a safe place at the moment.  
And what the hell happened to her FBI surveillance? 

“You must have pissed somebody really off.” Agent Wood put a coffee in front of Sofia. They were in her apartment where a paramedic checked on the blonde. Besides a few bruises and minor scratches she was fine.  
“Either that or I’ve really bad luck. It didn’t look like some school boy tried his new science project on my car.”  
“What did happen?”  
“I came down to drive to work, opened the car from the entrance of the house, lost a folder, the wind picked it up and I had to get all the paper back into the folder. When I was about to pick up the last sheet I hurt a boom and it got hot at the same moment followed by rain of pieces of my car as I learnt when I turned.”  
“Are you insured?”  
“Of course, I’m a cop.”  
“Good. Is she fine to work?” Wood asked the paramedic.  
“Her injuries are minor, no concussion, she can work I recommend a day off anyway. Somebody almost blew her off.”  
“Comes with the job.” The agent turned back to Sofia. “Detective, I want a bomb detect dog in your house to make sure there is no second bomb and you might want to look for another place to sleep until this case is solved. For your own and the safety of your neighbors.”  
“Yeah.” She had that on mind, wasn’t sure if she should go to her parents or to a hotel. Her parent’s place was nicer but she’d put them at risk. “I pack a few things and think about where to stay tonight. In case we haven’t solved the case until then. What happened to your agent in front of my house?”  
“Was pulled off when we came home and didn’t call any problems in. A mistake, as we learnt now.”  
“Nobody could think of Moreno trying to make confetti out of me.”  
“The head didn’t work, you came to him, made it obvious you know he’s the killer even when there’s no evidence and threatened him. I might check on my car tomorrow morning in case there’s a bomb as well.”  
“You haven’t pissed him off enough.” Sofia smiled a bit. The fact somebody was after her and not the leading FBI agent told her, she was the bigger thread, the better cop. A dangerous honor that was on the edge of being deadly.  
“We let the forensic team work the scene and get back to the department. I have the feeling we will get one of the security men to talk.”  
“What about Salsa?”  
“Nothing. The phone number goes straight into voice mail and the phone hasn’t moved since last night. My guess is, he left it in a casino and moved on. We accessed the phone record, there were two calls going from this phone to Moreno and one back. All before we saw Salsa at Moreno’s place.”  
“He called him on a different phone. Both will have disposal phones to keep in contact.”  
“We found two alias of Salsa, checked on them, none has used a credit card in Vegas.”  
“Ridiculous, we know he’s here, when he keeps underground he makes himself more interesting for us.”  
“Or he vanishes. He can be wherever since last night. If he job is done he might be on Bora Bora, enjoying the sunshine, cocktails, beautiful woman and a lot of money.”  
“The first killing was Moreno, the second Castello, the third Moreno again. I doubt this is over, Castello will hit back, within the next two days there’ll be more dead people, killed the same way.”  
“Or we scared them enough to make a break.”  
“Won’t be a long one. There’s a lot of ego in this case and when Castello holds back, he shows a weakness.”  
“Lets hope we close the case before more people die.” Wood got up. “Get a few things so you can stay away for a few days, detective.”  
Sofia sighed. It was smarter to leave for a few days but it wasn’t what she wanted. 

“You shouldn’t work today.” Sara said when she saw Sofia. She had been in front of the blonde’s apartment, picking up pieces of the car.  
“Why? Because they blew off my car? I won’t get it back when I stay at home and I’m not really injured. Did you find anything?”  
“You blew off your car yourself.”  
“That’s new to me.”  
“When you opened the car with your key it triggered the bomb, activating it and half a minute later your car blew off. The fact you were picking up papers saved your life, Sofia.”  
“I realized that and feel guilty for swearing at them when I chased them through the car park. Got a print of the bomb?”  
“There’re still people out collecting pieces of your car, the bomb and other things, it will take a while. We’re working on it since ten hours but it’s a big area and a lot of small pieces. You won’t go home, will you?”  
“No, I’ll stay in a hotel. It’s better for my neighbors.”  
“Better for you.”  
“I wanted to go to Moreno, just to see his face when he sees I’m not dead. Wood said I’ve to stay away and Jim is with him on this.”  
“He knows. I’m sure there was somebody around to watch if everything goes on the way it’s supposed to be.”  
“Damn, you might be right. It could have been Salsa. We’re looking for him and he was right in front of my house, I could have gotten him.”  
“Or he could have killed you with one bullet.”  
Sofia furrowed her brows. Yes, this was a possibility too. One she didn’t want to think of.  
“When we close the case, get them behind bars, everything is fine.”  
“Maybe you should leave the case to the FBI.”  
“No way! That’s what he wants. I’m on something, I’m close to him, that’s why he threatens me.”  
“A thread was the horse head, today was serious, he wanted to kill you.” Sara bit on her lips, her voice was higher than she wanted it to be.  
“I sleep somewhere else for the next nights and everything is fine.”  
“Hopefully.”  
“Do you worry about me?”  
“Yes, of course.”  
“You know, Moreno asked me to give him your private cell phone number when I asked for Salsas. He said if I want a number of his friend, he wants a number of my friend. I told him we’re colleagues, he said, we’re friends. The point it, you should look after yourself, Sara. I worry he tries to get to me by hurting you. Don’t go home alone.” They both knew the car park of the department wasn’t as safe as they wanted it to be. Natalie abducted Sara there, the brunette knew herself best, how fast you could be in somebody’s trunk.  
“Grissom is there.”  
“Good.”  
“So far they try to get you.”  
“I prefer it this way and only tell you, Moreno thinks of you too. Be careful.”  
“Ditto.”  
“I’ve the FBI following me, you don’t.”  
“You made a mobster angry, I didn’t.”  
“They don’t play fair, we both know that.”  
“Yes. I get back to the bomb to get you and the FBI something.” Sara put her hand shortly on Sofia’s shoulder when she passed her. “Take care of you. I don’t like to play jigsaw puzzle with a friend when the friend is the puzzle.”

“Did you find anything, Greg?”  
“Not yet.” Greg put the little pieces aside he was working on. “You?”  
“No.” Sara sat down. “All I know is how the car exploded. I can’t find any finger print and frankly I doubt there is one. Whoever build the bomb knew what he did.”  
“That’s what I think. How is Sofia?”  
“She pretends everything is fine, wants to get into Moreno’s face. The FBI tries to hold her back, wants her to step off the case what she denies. For tonight she’ll stay in a hotel because they fear Moreno or Salsa could try to kill her in her apartment.”  
“Blow off the apartment while she’s inside, I can see them doing it. They don’t care about all the other people.”  
“No.” Sara didn’t mentioned Sofia feared for her, there was no reason in make Greg worry about something that wasn’t an actual thread.  
“Do you also think it’s Moreno?”  
“Yes. And I’m sure Sofia is close to something that makes it obvious he’s the killer or behind all these killings. That’s why somebody tries to kill her.”  
“Any idea what kind of evidence she has?”  
“No and I don’t think she knows it already otherwise she had used it. Or she doesn’t have it and Moreno fears she’ll get it soon. This woman is damn smart and won’t back off. Only this time it can be bad for her.” Sara bit on her nails.  
“When there is anything she’ll find out and get this guy. Until then we have to get her as many clues and evidence as possible.”  
“We haven’t given her anything to frame Moreno. No real evidence. And nothing for Salsa neither.”  
“Nothing to frame Castello.”  
“Time to change that. Come on., Greggo, we go back to work.” She was almost out of the room when Grissom stepped in front of her. “Hey Gil, what’s up.”  
“There was a shooting.”  
“A shooting?” Her stomach tightened and the eyes of her lover told her, he didn’t have any good news.  
“When Sofia left the department a car drove by and somebody shoot. Shot her.” Grissom’s voice tried to stay calm but there more than a hint of sorrow and fear in his voice.  
“What? Where is she?”  
“She and agent Wood were about to see Moreno, Sofia found a connection between the mobster and the dead people.”  
“Gil, how is Sofia?” Who cared about the mobster. Her friend got shot and all she wanted to know was if she was all right.  
“On her way to hospital, it didn’t look good.”  
“Damn! I do there!” Dropping the file she had in her hands on the table, Sara was on her way out, followed by Grissom.  
“Sara!”  
“I need to see her, Gil.” There was nothing he could do or say to make her stay. Sofia was shot and her life was at risk. If she wasn’t allowed to see her as a friend, fair enough, the blonde was a crime victim and needed a CSI around. CSI Sidle.  
“I come with you.” Following his girlfriend Gil tried to keep up with her. 

“You can’t go in there!” Agent Wood stopped Sara from entering the room where she suspected Sofia.  
“Why? How is she?”  
“The doctor is with her, she lost a lot of blood.”  
“How could that happen? You were supposed to take care of her!” She felt like punching her fists in his face. This man was here to protect Sofia, to make sure she wouldn’t get hurt and he let somebody shot her. Why was the FBI around when they were useless?  
“We left the building when somebody opened the fire. Detective Curtis was hit in the chest area. We responded the fire, hit the car and my men are still tracking it.”  
“Great, you chase a car while Sofia dies.”  
“Sara.” Grissom tried to calm her.  
“No, they knew Moreno is after Sofia, it was their responsibility to make sure nothing happens to her. They failed. And because they’re too stupid to do their job our detective is in there, needs an operation and has to fight for her life. Don’t tell me I’ve to calm down, Grissom. This woman saved my life not too long ago, you know it as good as I do. Without her I had died.”  
“Sara.” His voice was soft and he pulled her into his arms. Burying her face in his pullover she realized she was crying.  
“The doctor will do everything to safe her life and my men will get the person who is responsible for the shooting.”  
“Moreno.”  
“We don’t have evidence yet.”  
“We all know it. She knows it. That’s why she’s in there.”  
“We need more than a gut feeling.”  
“Like what? The body of a detective? That’s a high price.”  
“Your friend won’t die.”  
“Can you promise this? Will you make sure she survives just as good as you make sure nothing happens to her?” Sara dropped on a chair. Her bad feeling had been right. She knew right from the beginning this case wasn’t a good case, something bad will happen. Why had she be always right? And wasn’t it bad enough when the blonde got shot? They didn’t need anything worse. 

Two hours and nothing had happened. Two hours they all sat in front of the door to the room where half a dozen doctors tried to save Sofia’s life. Not only Sara and Grissom were here. Brass, Cath, Nick, Greg, they all came here to wait for their colleague and friend. Day shift took over the shooting scene, nobody from night shift was able to concentrate.  
After she lost all her finger nails due to biting them, Sara caught herself biting her lip. Once there had been the iron taste of her own blood in her mouth and when she didn’t stop it wouldn’t be long until she tasted it again. Why was nobody telling them what was going on? Next to Jim were Sofia’s parents, both looked pale and there was a single tear on both parent’s faces. They feared for the life of their daughter as much as her friends did.  
“Doctor, how is she?” Captain Curtis jumped up as soon as a doctor left the room.  
“She lost a lot of blood.”  
Sara swallowed. She knew this voice. Heard it before, way too often. Used it herself when she had to talk to family who lost a member and weren’t aware of it yet. When she had to bring those bad news she talked like the doctor did. And Sofia’s parents knew it as well. Both started crying.  
“I’m very sorry but we lost her, there was nothing we could do for her. I’m sorry.”  
This couldn’t be real, this had to be a mistake. Sofia couldn’t be dead. She had promised to take care of herself! She couldn’t be dead! No!  
“If you want you can see her one more time.”  
Captain Curtis and her husband followed the doctor into the room, both holding on to each other.  
Sofia was dead. The words were like a never-ending echo in Sara’s ears. Dead. Dead. Dead. The blonde didn’t win the fight, she lost. Paid with her life. She escaped the bomb in the morning but had no chance to do the same with the bullet in the evening.  
When Sofia’s parents came out of the room Sara and her colleagues were allowed to say goodbye too. Slowly, held by Grissom, she entered the room. On the table, wearing the bloody shirt of the operation, the blonde lay on the table. Her face looked like she slept, like this was all only a dream.  
“You can’t touch her.” A doctor stopped Sara from touching Sofia’s hand.  
“Why?”  
“She’s evidence, we got told by the FBI not to let anybody touch her.”  
“Evidence? She isn’t evidence, she’s our friend.” How could this man degrade Sofia from a human being to evidence? How could anybody be this cold?  
“I’m sorry.”  
Sara shook her head. He was sorry. Sorry. Sorry wasn’t the right word for how she felt. Probably there wasn’t a word that described the way she felt. Sorry wasn’t even close to it. She lost her friend.


End file.
